Get remote file access, management on your iPhone with Sugarsync

Sugarsync, a pricey but excellent file-syncing and backup solution has a new iPhone application that's downright cool. It gives you access to all the files stored on computers linked up to your Sugarsync account. Better yet, it provides instant--and I do mean instant--updates when a file has been touched by you or another user by utilizing some spiffy push technology.

I got a demo of it in action a few weeks back, and it's one of the better looking applications I've seen. Like the desktop version each linked up machine has its own special icon, and all you have to do to access your files is to pick one from a neat spinning wheel. You'll then get a similar view of the file structure, with folders, icons, and more.

One of the application's greatest assets is that it can be synced up to several computers, and then pass over that data between them in the background. In the mobile world, something that makes this system useful is trying to send someone a large file (say 500MB) that you can't just pull down on your phone and send through e-mail. Sugarsync's solution is to simply send your recipient the link and they'll be able to download the file through their browser's download manager.

The application is also set up to let you move, rename, and delete files remotely. Since everything is linked up to the live sync server those changes will go out immediately. In the demo we saw these changes from desktop to phone and back again getting pushed out in about a second, even over EDGE.

For now, one of the only drawbacks is file compatibility. It handles everything the iPhone can just fine (like MS office documents, PDFs, Quicktime Movie files, etc.), but it has had problems with certain movie codecs and audio files. I'm told all supported audio files will play just fine, it's just an issue of trying to let you do other things while the music is playing, as it currently kicks the file onto the full-screen Quicktime player. Future versions should hopefully be able to let you multitask.

The application is free, but Sugarsync's service is not. Users can grab a 45-day free trial of the 10GB service, which normally costs about three bucks a month.

Sugarsync's iPhone app lets you access and manage your files on multiple devices, right on your phone. You can even open and access compatible file types while out and about.

(Credit: Sharpcast Inc. / CBS Interactive)

[haxorwear]

Pricey? $3/month for 10gb of data backups seems reasonable to me as a consumer. Otherwise nice review, I'll try out the app.

[dare2cnet]

"Since everything is linked up to the live sync server those changes will go out immediately. "

This part concerns me - if someone were to get access to your account they could delete your files and that would then happen on your personal computer. Thus making it required to have 'another' backup service in place.

I'll wait till they address this possibility.